Dr. Horrible’s First Act released, crashes server (updated again)

It was a harrowing night in Whedon-dom, as Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog was released to the Internets at the stroke of midnight, EDT — and promptly met the indignation of international fans who were unable to see it through host Hulu.com.

For US viewers, it was 14-minutes of musical wonderment and giggle-inducing fun, as Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris) planned his nefarious schemes, while wistfully longing for sweet-and-innocent Penny (Felicia Day), and avoiding the muscle-bound thoughtless heroics of Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion).

A few fervent hours later, the Horrible crew, working from home, managed to get the streaming available for those outside the US… leading to the DrHorrible.com site being overwhelmed and going down in a fit of exhaustion. (I say it was the Evil League of Evil!)

We’ve officially crashed Today at 12:15pm We love you for crashing the site, we really do. In the meantime, those of you who have iTunes capabilities can go there and get your fix. Our site should be up and running again in a few hours. Your support is warming our hearts and kicking our asses. So thank you thank you. J, M, J, Z

At 11:28 EDT, co-writer and lyricist on Dr. Horrible, Maurissa Tancharoen wrote, “We done broke the internet. Currently switching to a monster server. Should be up within a couple hours…”

As further evidence of the fallout from this massive event, popular group blog site Whedonesque.com crashed under the load.

Those in the US and Canada have the option of purchasing a higher quality version of the first Act from iTunes for $1.99; or the three-part serial for $3.99.